Rense.com
Job Layoffs Under Bush
Among Highest In US History
By Madeleine Baran
New Standard News.net
8-11-4

During the first three years of the Bush administration,
the layoff rate reached 8.7 percent for workers over 20 years old, one
of the highest rates on record, according to the New York Times.

The survey also recorded the highest layoff rate ever
for long-tenured workers -- those who held their job for more than three
years. Employers laid off 5.3 million, or 6.3 percent of all long-tenured
workers between 2001 and 2003.

In the past, layoffs peaked during recessions and declined
during economic booms; but a new survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
shows that the layoff rate is increasing regardless of the state of the
rest of the US economy.

"No one should be surprised by the increasing frequency
of layoffs," James Glassman, senior US economist for the investment
firm J. P. Morgan Chase, told the New York Times. "It is the echo
of globalization. Companies are shifting production around more frequently
to take advantage of low-cost centers."